Tomita's claim was that he demonstrated the tech to Nintendo in 2003, and that several of the Nintendo employees present at that meeting would go on to create the 3DS.

Nintendo's defence attorney Scott Lindvall stated that there were in fact several companies with similar patents, and that Nintendo met with several of them. Lindvall also insisted that the 3DS didn't infringe key elements of Tomita's patent. His protests clearly didn't win over the judge and jury.

Tomita was seeking $9.80 for every 3DS sold, which would have bagged him more than $292 million. Despite winning the suit, he had to settle for $30.2 million in damages. We can't imagine he's too disappointed, even with that lower figure.

Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded. DamienMcFerran